Bakula Late Fill-in for Reynolds

Former Quantum Leap star Scott Bakula is jumping in as a last-minute replacement for Burt Reynolds on the CBS pilot Late Boomers.

Bakula may need to be replaced himself soon, as he's still in talks to star in the upcoming Star Trek: Enterprise series, which is expected to bow this fall, according to Variety.

For the moment, Bakula has only contracted as a guest star in the first episode of Boomers. He'll play a former NFL quarterback who now owns a Chicago bar (shades of Cheers). Also joining the project at the last minute are Night Court's Markie Post, who'll play his ex-wife, and Chicago Hope's Adam Arkin, who'll play his doctor and best friend. They replace Joe Bologna and Michele Lee, who also left the project.

Robert Urich (Vega$) and Joe Regalbuto (Murphy Brown) are still on board.

"It's best to say that things didn't work out and that we had creative differences [with Reynolds]," Eric Tannenbaum, president of the show's producing company, Artists Television Group, told Variety. "We have great respect for the guy, but it wasn't meant to be."

Like Bakula, Arkin and Post also have backup projects that take priority over Boomers: Fox's The Third Degree for Arkin and the WB's Electra Woman and Dyna Girl (based on the 1970s children's show) for Post.

"When it gets late in the casting season and you have material you like, you do things that normally you wouldn't," Tannenbaum said of casting such overbooked stars.